


Unburdening

by TourmalineQueen



Category: Assassin's Creed II - Fandom
Genre: Gen, M/M, bite sized bits of fic from 2012
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-05-18
Packaged: 2018-01-25 14:18:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1651706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TourmalineQueen/pseuds/TourmalineQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written in 2012 for the comment-fic prompt:<br/>Assassin's Creed, Ezio +/ any, Sometimes he misses his father and brothers so much he can't stand it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unburdening

"Ezio. So good to see you," Leonardo's smile warmed Ezio as he entered the artist's bottega.

"Grazie, Leonardo. I have another Codex page for you," Ezio murmured.

"How exciting!" Leonardo bounced on his heels and took the ancient document straight away. "Would you care to eat while I work, amico?"

"No thank you, Leonardo. I ... have little appetite lately," Ezio said softly.

"Ezio? Are you quite well? You do not seem like yourself,"Leonardo returned to Ezio, abandoning the Codex page without a second thought. He reached for Ezio's forehead, as if to feel for fever as a mother might. Ezio jerked back.

"I am well, Leonardo, just... Just... Frustrated," Ezio confessed.

"In what way, Ezio? Perhaps I can be of help to you," Leonardo offered.

Ezio shrugged and looked away, embarrassed. "No, forgive me, Leonardo, it is... unimportant."

Leonardo's blue eyes regarded Ezio seriously for a long moment, before he smiled and clasped Ezio's shoulder. "If it would help you to talk, I am here. If it would help you to be distracted, I am still here. Whatever I can do for you, amico mio," he said with a smile.

"Grazie, Leonardo. Truly, I mean it."

The artist nodded and turned his attention back to the document. Ezio was too restless to sit and rest the way he had done when he had brought his Father's Page to be translated. Instead, Ezio meandered through the studio, looking at paintings and idly tracing lines of sketches with a lazy finger. 

His unhappiness lay like an itch between his shoulder blades: unreachable and very much at the height of his awareness. Padre would know what to do about feeling like this, Ezio thought sadly, or Federico would have teased me into good humour. He sighed, softly, and muttered his brother's name.

"You miss him - miss all three of them, don't you?" Leonardo asked shrewdly, behind him.

Ezio stiffened briefly, then gave a minute nod. It wasn't a confession of weakness if the other man had guessed it, was it?

"I thought, with Claudia and Mother safe in Monteriggioni, and Uberto Alberti dead by my hand, it would hurt less," he muttered.

"It hurts more?" Leonardo asked gently, resting a comforting hand on Ezio's shoulder.

He gave a single nod.

"Capisco, Ezio. I do understand. The ... shock is worn off, and now all you can think of is what you want to tell them, how they would act or react in certain situations. Correct?" Leonardo spoke softly.

Again Ezio nodded. "I know they are gone, so why do I keep expecting to see Federico lounging against the walls teasing me, or Petruccio hanging out of a window to gather feathers? Or Father-" Ezio's voice broke, and he stopped speaking. He squeezed his eyes shut, and breathed deeply to stave off a sudden rush of tears.

"Simply for this reason, mi' amore, because you love them and they are a part of who you are, and you miss them," Leonardo said, softly.

"But they are gone, and their murderer is avenged," Ezio said, almost pleadingly. "I don't want to miss them anymore."

"I know. But they will always be gone. It will hurt less in time, but it does take time. And as long as you intend to exact vengeance upon those responsible, the wound will be fresh in your heart. I wish it were not so. I wish I could take your hurt and make it mine," Leonardo murmured gently.

"But you do so much for me already, Leonardo," Ezio protested.

"Love knows no burdens," Leonardo replied, with a wry smile.

Ezio smiled softly, almost shyly back at the artist, and leaned into him. He rested his head on Leonardo's shoulder and kissed the older man softly on the lips.

"Ti amo, Leonardo," Ezio murmured quietly.

"Ti amo, Ezio," Leonardo whispered against Ezio's lips.


End file.
